New drugs and consumer products are almost always tested for safety on
rats, rabbits, chimpanzees and other animals, but advances in technology
could bring an end to such experiments.

Testing on animals could be phased out over the next couple of decades -- putting to rest ethical, efficiency and reliability questions
-- if new
systems are accepted by researchers and government regulators, according
to several experts gathering to debate the subject this week.

"We're trying to find out how we can save animals and make risk
assessment of consumer products more reliable," said Dr. Thomas Hartung,
director of Johns Hopkins University's Center for Alternatives to Animal
Testing, a co-sponsor of the Washington conference called Animals,
Research, and Alternatives: Measuring Progress 50 Years Later. "We're
learning as science gets better."